


Journeys with Fight Club Aaron

by Glacier_Nester



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 20:08:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11721645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glacier_Nester/pseuds/Glacier_Nester
Summary: All the fic I wrote with Asagao Fight Club Aaron. No AUs, no whatnots, just the life of a high schooler and his very punchy friends.





	1. Introduction

I wandered into the lunchroom, and saw a large, obviously homemade sign hanging above a table. There was someone I had seen a few times before sitting in front of the sign awkwardly, their fists clenched. I read the sign, and looked down, crestfallen. “Boxing Club Signup”, I muttered to myself, “of course it has to be something I’d get destroyed at. No way to help with that situation, I guess.” I jumped a bit as the bell went off, and took a bit more interest than was necessary in the guy as he packed up his stuff and rushed off in a huff. I trailed my way off to class, but that wouldn’t be the last I saw of the guy.   
It was a few weeks later, and I had learned the guy’s name: Tate, though he usually went by JediProxy. Yeah, I didn’t know what the deal was with the odd nicknames around here. There’s even a guy named peanutbuttergamer! Like, that’s his actual name. I cannot deal! Regardless, I digress. Over those few weeks, I had learned more about Tate than just his name. He really had caught my attention, and it was because of this: the pure, unadulterated stream of memes he seemed to send in all directions. I needed to get more of this, and the best way was clearly to get in on that boxing club. After all, I need to learn to take a punch anyway, it’d be a good skill! I strode across campus with an uncharacteristic amount of confidence, driven by my desire to get the dank memes.. I tripped over my own feet as I wandered into the gym.. Wasn’t it tate who was in the gym all the time? How did he even have time to run the boxing club while he was pumping all that iron? I glanced around in confusion, only seeing someone with a surprisingly fitting blonde streak in their hair. I waited for him to finish up the set, and called out to him: “Hey, you’re Tate, right? You run the boxing club?” Tate gave me an intensely disgruntled look, and I almost fell over as I saw their fist clench, and the muscle in their arm became scarily defined. “First of all, I’m not Tate, and what’re you asking about the boxing club for?” I felt my mouth dry, and, hands shaking, I gulped and fumbled for my water bottle, hurriedly taking a pull before stuttering out. “S-sorry, I was l-looking for Tate because the boxing club seems neat and I kinda want in..?” The person softened a bit at that, and a little smirk came across their face. “Listen, my name’s Ace. Tate’s in the library, so if you want to go talk to him, I’d head there.” I nodded and muttered a thanks, flashing a thumbs up as I rushed out of the room, not trusting my voice to remain stable now that I knew the simply absurd physique this Ace person possessed. I walked, a bit more slowly this time, considering this.. Boxing club of Tate’s. The way Ace had flipped out.. I was worrying about this. As I walked into the doorway of the library, however, something that happened a bit more often than I’d care to admit: I completely lost my thought. I knew I’ve had a bit of a memory problem for a while, but it’s very particular about boundaries. This time, it might have gotten me into a bit of a mess. I pulled up a chair next to Tate, and tapped his shoulder. “Hey dude, Ace was telling me about that bo-” I was cut off by an incredibly startling set of song lyrics I didn’t recognize, and trailed off in confusion. “What is this odd new meme..” I muttered, waiting for Tate to reply to the text. Instead, he glanced at it, and shrugged, turning to me. “Come to magnolia center at 1AM tonight. We like to hold our new-member orientations when it’s nice and calm.” I spluttered and nodded. “So you’ll explain that ringtone sometime right? It sounds like a real nice meme.”


	2. Knock Some Sense Into Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron learns a lesson about Ace.

Oftentimes I found myself being more than a bit forgetful, but today was.. Quite the outlier to say the least. I forgot just about everything it was possible for me to forget, whether it was an obligation with a friend, that day’s homework assignment, choir rehearsal, or even what year it was, a few times there. I even got a bit fuzzy on my name there for a bit. Needless to say, I was sick and tired of forgetting things that day, and it got a fire set in my gut that wasn’t there very often. Thankfully, we had a boxing club meeting that night, so I could let off some steam, get myself back down to the calm, cool, glacial pace I was used to. I was itching to get into the ring as the day wore on, so much so that I worried my poor roommate with my shadow-boxing and pushups while he was trying to sleep.   
“Glac, you’ve been carrying on like that for like, three hours, and I can’t sleep a wink with all that noise! Could you at least keep it down!?”  
I made a noncommittal grumbling noise, and casually tossed a set of earbuds at him. “Use these. I suggest binaural beats for sleep. There’s an app. Look it up.”   
He paused for a moment, threw up his arms with a groan, and popped the earbuds in, cranking some pop band he found the other day to drown me out. Between the rhythm of my punches, I heard the tinny bassline, and rolled my eyes. I can’t believe how much he liked that band, I mean, the Normal Boots guys have enough pull as it is, why feed the hype machine with their band?   
Finally the hour rolled around for us to meet in magnolia center, and I was so raring and ready to go, that I forgot one more thing, and this one was probably worse than just about everything I had forgotten earlier in the day: the fact that Ace hit like a tank using wrecking balls as boxing gloves. I quietly strolled into the ring, to many a confused and worried look from my clubmates, and went through my usual warmup, rolling my shoulders, throwing a few punches, little things like that. I was feeling confident and ready for a fight, but that changed like lightning as my memory flickered over a single snapshot: Ace, throwing punches in the gym, while holding absurdly large dumbbells. The color drained from my face, but I squared my jaw. I took this fight, and I gotta sleep in the bed I’ve made. After all, I thought, I could use a good beating, might jar some memories loose! Ace raised an eyebrow at me, probably wondering about the lack of color in my face leading into a clearly overconfident smirk, but he was quickly back to all business when Tate signaled the fight to start. Ace and I circled for a bit, sizing each other up, thinking over strategy, but I threw up my shoulders in a shrug and dashed at him. Ace chuckled a bit. He knew I wasn’t very fast, so leading with a run really tipped my hand and showed my desperation. He wound up, and let me come at him as fast as I could. Ace’s form was textbook as his fist sailed, true to it’s aim, directly into my shoulder. I spun a full circle with the sheer force of the blow, and stumbled more than a bit. I was lucky that was my left, or I’d be out of this fight before it even started. I took a few steps back, reconsidering my strategy, but Ace kept the heat on, following with a few quick jabs to my chest. I floundered a bit, putting up my arms to block, and spun, this time on my own power, to the right. Slow though this move was, it happened to actually work, as I put my own momentum into the blow, hitting Ace right between the shoulderblades. Ecstatic that I landed a blow, I took a step back, falling into another ready stance, but, despite it’s name, I was nowhere near ready for the hailstorm of blows coming for me. It may have just been the blows knocking me around, but I swore I saw some things that definitely couldn’t have happened to me rattling around in my head after that. Ace let fly with another colossal hook, and I didn’t have time to put up a guard. Next thing I remember was leaning against a wall, wincing as I came to, the ice against my temple blissfully cool.   
“That was a good punch, but you’ve got a long way before you can go toe to toe with me properly. Next time, think it through. I really could have hurt you bad out there.”  
I looked down, and muttered into my lap, “I deserved the beating, Ace. I can’t remember anything, I’m worthless. I was hoping that fight would knock some sense into me.”  
Ace’s eyes went steel cold at that statement, and he gritted his teeth before practically spitting his next sentence at me. “You’ve taken enough of a beating, don’t beat yourself up while you’re at it.”  
I sighed softly. “I’ll keep that in mind, Ace.. Thanks for taking it easy on me out there.”  
He softened a bit at that, and chuckled. “I don’t take it easy on anybody, kid. I’m just surprised you lasted that long.”  
A cheer rose from our clubmates as Hana knocked the hat clean off of Jedi. I rose weakly, and smiled warmly at Ace. “Thanks, dude. That was a rad fight. Wanna see how my commentary handles after a hit like that?”


	3. A Girl Arrives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron stumbles and bumbles his way into meeting a very.. unique girl.

Winter had fallen upon Asagao, and I couldn’t have been happier. Everyone else seemed to curl up and default to being inside, fires ablaze and heaters on high. I was, as usual, one of the few people trailing their way to class at anything less than an absolutely incredible speed, and that was no different from home. What did stick out, however, (other than well, Hana, but Mai called her a main character for a reason) was an odd.. Whirring. I had caught it every now and again, only in quiet rooms. At first, I just put it down to the heating system making noise, but it wasn’t consistent enough for that. I did some digging, trying to source just what the heck was making that noise, trying to catch it on recording, but all those would come out as were dead air, static, and little sounds of my own fidgeting, nothing of order coming from the natural chaos of the background. After a late night Gaaglo session, watching conspiracy theory videos about the “haarp effect” and how string theory was vibrating our souls, and getting a bit off track learning about I’d heard about in warehouse 17 about a ship teleporting nearly a mile, I had given up. I was half asleep in class the next day, layers of theory and what ifs bouncing around my head, when I heard the whirr again. I snapped bolt upright in my seat, holding my breath as to hear the source of the sound better.. And something new came along with it this time, a familiar sound that I knew from many an hour spent fiddling with an old computer in my basement: the Doors’ default bell sound. The pieces fell into place as I realized, that whirring, I’d heard it before, from a computer fan! My head spun to look at where that had came from, confusion rising as I remembered, Shizuka didn’t allow computers in class! I muttered a shocked “what..?” as my eyes settled on the source of the ping. An unassuming red-haired girl? My ears must have been playing tricks on me, there was no way she could have been the source of that, could she..? I’d have to talk to her after class, this needed to be put to rest, so I could get some sleep, at the very least.  
After the most agonizingly long thirty minutes of my life, I approached the girl, who was in a group with a few others I didn’t know either. I clenched my teeth, steeling myself as though I was heading into the ring. I wasn’t ever the best speaking to girls, and this situation couldn’t help that at all. After all, what was I supposed to say? “Hey, I’ve heard you whirring for the past couple weeks, and I just heard you make an actual computer noise just now in class, and I’m very confused and sleepy and I just need to know what’s the deal here?” Fiddling with the part in my hair, and giving my stubble a scratch, I slid up to the conversation, waiting for a crevice, a natural lull in the speech that I could introduce myself, my brain doing some internal whirring of its own as I tried to come up with something to say. Then I noticed, the strange whirring girl was wearing a t-shirt with a Nokemon I recognized: Alguron! I smiled softly, and saw my chance open up. “Hey, nice shirt!” She smiled slightly, and intoned almost.. Flatly, “Many thanks, fellow classmate. I find that Alguron is a most notably useful instance of the ice typing in Nokemon.” I was startled by her oddly stilted choice of words, but also found myself strangely charmed. I smiled slightly at her response, then gestured toward the door with uncharacteristic suaveness. “Let’s walk and talk, shall we? I’ve picked up on something that I think you’ll find interesting, miss..” I trailed off, hoping she would fill me in on her name, but she simply quirked her head to the side in confusion, an awkward silence filled with chatter from the people around us growing for a moment. “You seem to have not completed your communication, Aaron. Are you malfunctioning?” Immediately, the thin veneer of charisma I had managed to pull off cracked and fell around me, and I stammered out my reply. “I.. ah.. Well, no? I just.. Seem to have not gotten your n-name.” I looked at my feet, fiddling with my hair, nerves sweeping over me in a wave, worried I had flubbed the one chance to figure out what the deal was with this whirring, and that I’d have to just let it drop, but the girl simply stepped forward, and I snapped up, hearing the whirring again, and noting a.. Rather immense heat wafting off her. “My designation is Kakasu, Aaron. I am quite intrigued at the circumstances that lead to my meeting you. You said you wished to communicate, shall we seek out a more private location? It seemed as though you had something that was requiring a degree of separation from our classmates to discuss.” I nodded, not trusting my own voice, as I was red as a tomato. She smiled cordially, and mirrored my gesture toward the door. “Let us walk, Aaron, you seem to have a higher temperature than average, and perhaps the cold air would do you some good.” I smiled in return at her words, and we strolled out the door, into the chilled night air.


	4. Min Karlek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small flash into the future between Aaron and Kakusu.

I had been stumbling around in the kitchen for a good thirty minutes, thankful that Kakusu had her auditory sensors disabled while she was powered down to get some charge. It had been a long time since I went to the trouble of making scones, delicious as they were, and I was definitely not doing it in top form. The scones were incredibly noisy so far, but it’d be worth it to see her reaction. Most people thought Kakusu didn’t really need to eat, what with her being a gynoid, that she was simply humoring us by eating food, but much to my surprise, she actually uses the food for energy throughout the day, so I wanted to surprise her with breakfast. Finally, I sat back and waited for the scones to bake, crossing my fingers and hoping that they’d at least come out tasting good.   
The timer pinged, and I perked up, having fallen asleep slightly over time. Stumbling to get the sheet out of the oven, I grimaced as I heard Kakusu’s bootup sequence start, little pings and whirrs that had become familiar to me over time. Rushing to put the scones on a plate, I smiled softly as Kakusu padded out of the bedroom in a surprisingly human manner.   
“Good morning, min karlek!” I burbled cheerfully, gesturing to the scones broadly. “I made these this morning, thought we both needed a break from cafeteria cereal for breakfast!”   
Kakusu responded in kind with a smile, then tilted her head in confusion at my earlier phrase of endearment. “Aaron, I was unaware you spoke Swedish. Perhaps I should change your default language so you can keep up the skill?”  
I paused in surprise, parsing what Kakusu had said myself. “OH! That phrase is swedish? I just always heard it from my dad, who said it to my mom, I just thought it was one of those little nonsense phrases of endearment!” I bit my lip softly. “Well.. not really just nonsense, Dad told me it meant.. Uh.. I think something like my lifebonded? And I don’t know, I just.. can’t get over how a few months ago I wanted to learn your name and now you’re having breakfast with me in my sweater. I can’t help but think that little things like that makes calling you min karlek ever more appropriate.” I blushed, cutting off my prattling with a mumbled sorry.  
It was Kakusu’s turn to blush this time, with another small whirr I found ever so familiar. I smiled as I remembered how we met, and was startled out of my thoughts by a gentle peck on the cheek. “I am gladdened to be worthy of such a title, Aaron.”


	5. A Remarkable Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron professes how he feels, but things don't go entirely as intended.

Kakusu let out a few (involuntary) bips and beeps as she scanned the internet for copies of a show mentioned in passing by Tate, and prattled off the first few lines of the Gikipedia entry for the show while it downloaded, as if to confirm that this was indeed the correct show to look into. It was standard procedure to do something like this, every time someone mentioned something she was unaware of, in an effort to remain abreast of the references then thrown her way thereafter.   
It had been several weeks since I had met Kakusu, and the stroll we took along the snowy paths was among the most pleasant I had ever taken, and that was saying something, given how much time I spent in the cold. In that short span of time, I had become far more familiar with the gynoid, and I had found quite the hoard of little idiosyncrasies that came along with her AI’s fervent attempts to emulate a teenage girl. I knew that these got on other people’s nerves, but I really couldn’t find them anything but adorable and endearing. I had made up my mind, it was simply impossible for me to go on any longer at her side without making my feelings known. As when I had met her, I strode with a surprising degree of confidence across campus, this time to Primrose House. “At this hour, it’s most likely she;s there, isn’t it?” I muttered to myself as I snuck into the dorm, quietly thanking “boxing club” for giving me at least a bare minimum of stealth. I silently crept up the stairs, wondering how I was going to put this into words. However, I found myself at the door of her dormitory before I could get anything corralled into a sensical format in my brain. I traced the numbers on her door absentmindedly, trying to build the courage to open it and start talking.. And almost jumped right out of my skin as she opened the door with frighteningly, well, robotic, efficiency.   
“Aaron, what brings you to my domicile? It is rather late, do you have some sort of important information you would like to impart?” Kakusu quirked her head to the side in a confused gesture I had come to recognize over the past few weeks: What I had done (or said) didn’t make sense with the “average human interaction” parameters she must have had. “You caught me just as I began my charge cycle for the evening, but judging by your thermal reading, this seemed important.”  
My confidence flagged a bit, but I stood up straight, taking in a deep breath. “In fact, Kakusu, I do have something I’d like to explain, but it’s.. A bit difficult, very abstract, so you’ll have to bear with me until I’m done. If it doesn’t make sense after that, then you can ask questions, ok?”  
Kakusu nodded slightly, and her eyes flared a bright red along with the nod as she intoned, more robotically than usual, “I will remain muted until you have reached the assigned parameter.”  
Unflinchingly, I plowed forward, stubborn in my need to admit my love to the gynoid. “Kakusu, I love you. And I don’t mean that as a platitude or sarcastically, like you may have found it used amongst your friends, and our peers. I mean this in the most sincere way possible. I.. don’t quite know how to put this properly, so I’m going to try to draw enough analogies that you understand. I love you.. Like Simon loves Kaylee from LightningBug, or like Hann loves Leiar from Space Altercation.. Although perhaps a bit deeper than that particular couple. When I saw you, it hit me like the meteor from Extraterrestrial almost hit that kid in his yard, or how Lonk hits Ganondork with his first sword. It’s an odd, glancing blow, and I felt it from the start, but over time, I realized that it really did hit me. It was like taking a poison damage in Nokemon, or Timidly Strange. It creeps up on you slowly, and you don’t know it’s there until it’s serious. As soon as I realized how I felt for you, I couldn’t help but rush over here, slow though I am (though I’m still waiting for my lightning bolt like in The Spark), to tell you that I don’t want us to ever part, I’m hoping that we can be a couple that just works together, regardless of the circumstances, like Guko and CihCih in Lizard Spheres X. What I’m really trying to say here is, will you be the Belita to my Jerome, the Connor to my Stephanie, the Jordanne to my Flyng?”  
I breathed out deeply, and heaved in air to replace it, hoping that this would signify an end to what I was saying to Kakusu. She whirred for a long time, seemingly parsing what I had said, and I stood, patiently waiting for her to catch up. After what seemed like an eternity, she unfroze, and her hand rose to cover her mouth in surprise. “Aaron.. I am deeply startled, in a most pleasant way, that you have found yourself feeling this way for me.. I am unsure how to respond, but if these things you have mentioned are any template for how I shall, I suppose an affirmative action of some sort would be a good choice. Is this amenable to you?’ I blinked slowly, unsure of what she meant by affirmative action, and she seemed to take my silence as a yes. I let out a startled yelp as she stepped forward with incredible suddenness, gently grasped my chin, and with purposeful form I had only seen in films before now, stood on the tips of her toes, and gave me a passionate kiss. I stumbled a bit in my startledness, then melted into the kiss, my arms wrapping around her waist, as if to say, “hmm, yes, i definitely was expecting that, I intended that to happen.” We pulled apart slowly, and a blush started to tinge my cheeks.. That rapidly became firey red as my hair as I heard an excited whoop from the ever energetic Mai. “Whohoo, Kakusu getting herself a man~” Hana elbowed her in the ribs, and although I couldn’t hear it, I assumed she said something about other people trying to sleep. I tried my best to brush it off, and enjoy the moment, turning back to Kakusu. “W..wow, I never thought you could give a kiss like that, Kakusu.. The only time I’d seen s-something anything like that was from the end of Steins;Grate.” Kakusu’s head tilted to the side for a moment, and she began to rattle off something that sounded like the first few lines of a summary of the anime as her head snapped back into place sharply. I smiled softly, nodding. “Yep, that’s the one! I’m surprised you didn’t know it, considering how well you just repeated the kiss from the end!” Kakusu repeated the confused gesture, this time cocking an eyebrow. “What do you mean, Aaron? Repeating the kiss? I do not recall this occuring.” I jokingly tapped her with my knuckles, still in a happy fog from the kiss, and mumbled some platitude about her needing to download more ram to help with that memory problem, then glanced at my watch, paling as I saw the time. “shOOOT CURFEW IS IN LIKE FIVE MINUTES I GOTTA GO BYE!” As I ran down the stairs, it struck me: I had never heard Kakusu forget anything, nor joke about it.. She genuinely sounded as though she had forgotten what had just happened! I shook my head to dispel the thought as I entered my dorm, falling into bed and a slightly restless sleep.  
The sun rose on a new day at Asagao, and I rolled out of bed begrudgingly, risking a glance at my watch as my feet hit the floor. A softly whispered curse of “merda” passed my lips as I glanced at my watch. It was 7:45, and knowing the speed I moved at, it was going to be a struggle to get to the first class at 8:30 on time. I took the closest approximation of a power shower I could, that is to say, started showering, remembered the time, and swore softly under my breath as I remembered I had no time for this. Breathing heavily, I ran across campus, hoping that there wasn’t a quiz or something that Shizuka was springing on us. I burst into the room, my hair still dripping in my haste to make it on time. As expected, Shizuka came down hard on me for being late, and it didn’t help that whatever dude she had over that weekend had spurned her. I grimaced slightly as she continued to admonish me for my lateness. I rushed to my seat, hoping i hadn’t missed anything, and grimaced once again as I found a quiz on my desk. I rushed my way through the questions, knowing I wasn’t prepared for the strategy quiz anyway. As I strolled up to give Shizuka the test, however, I noticed something out of place: Kakusu, struggling on a question. She never, ever did that, and it didn’t make any sense, she simply downloaded the skills the night before. I had to talk to her after class, something seemed to be going on.  
I caught up with Kakusu after class, confused as ever, and asked what had been itching at me all throughout the test. “Kakusu, I’ve never seen you get an answer wrong on a test, and you were visibly struggling there. Is something happening?” Kakusu gave me an odd look, as if I had grown a third eye, and spoke flatly, “Everything is fine, Aaron, why do you ask?” I spluttered a bit, panic creeping into my voice, “B-because you’re not yourself! You’re.. Forgetting things, you don’t forget things, I’m the one who can forget things, why are you forgetting things?” Kakusu raised an eyebrow at me, as if to question my actions, “Aaron, what do you mean, I’m losing data from my banks? I have no record of any deletion, authorized or unauthorized. Are you absolutely sure something has occurred?” I blinked, taken aback at the thought of misremembering. “I.. K-Kakusu, I.. I can’t remember, but I know that you said something last night about not remembering the kiss, and I-” Kakusu cut me off, and I nearly bit my tongue in surprise. She never, ever cut anyone off, always letting someone speak their sentence to completion. She spoke with an odd warble in her voice that, judging by the people around us’s reaction, nobody had ever heard. “PLEASE DON’T DISASSEMBLE ME I KNOW I’M BROKEN!” I floundered for a bit, and despite my efforts to keep up, Kakusu was far too fast for not only me, but just about everyone else on campus.   
I had been searching for Kakusu all over campus for hours on end, and I was in a fog, terrified that what happened last night didn’t really happen, that I had dreamed it, or made it up, or if it was in fact something worse, that she had malfunctioned.. Regardless of what had happened to her, it was my fault, whatever it was. It started because of me, though I didn’t know how or when. I simply couldn’t handle that, having brought harm to the one I loved.. I collapsed in the middle of campus in a heap, tortured sobs creeping from my crumpled form, so burned out I was unable to help myself, or anyone else.


	6. Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A smallish fic I wrote to cheer up a friend from fight club. I hope it brings cheer to your day, too!

The train rattled slightly as it wound through the japanese hills, and I shifted nervously. Hana smiled softly, as if I had reminded her of something, and despite my quirked eyebrow, didn’t move to explain. I looked over at Kakusu, as if to search her for answers, but she sat much more still than average, a slightly glazed-over look to her eyes. Most people would have thought she had zoned out, but I knew the look well: She was planning the near future. Basically, she zoned out while the processors usually dedicated to keeping up a pleasant, chipper personality crunched over potential expected possibilities, so that she could react in advance to them, lending a much more human smoothness to her actions. It was quite the elegant solution to her slightly delayed, thoughtfully chosen, and noticeably, well, robotic interactions, and when I asked her if she was taught it, she gave me a simple, droning “Negative” in response. I had spluttered at the time, after all, it wasn’t too common for computers to have any capability to emulate the intuitive choices of a human. However, now it just brought a fascinated smile to my face, knowing that the gynoid did indeed have at least some capability to learn and grow, just like her human counterparts did. I was still off deep in thought, pondering just what could be going on inside Kakusu, when the train shuddered to a halt, and I jumped slightly, oddly in sync with my girlfriend who did much the same beside me. PBG let out a soft chuckle in response, and I blushed. Kakusu, who was still coming out of her own fog, didn’t react quite yet to what was going on.   
“Looks like you both had some numbers to crunch over there, huh?” Hana said with a smile as we exited the train into Higanbana. I shot her a glare, jokingly, but PBG didn’t seem to pick up on that, and responded with a glance of his own that was much.. Steelier than I had expected out of him, and judging by the whirring to my left, Kakusu was confused as well. Hana, thankfully, broke the tension in the air with a laugh that put such a gleam in PBG’s eye, it gave me secondhand warm fuzzies, and I found myself imagining a far off future where Kakusu and I were cozy in some coffee shop. For the second time tonight, I was startled, this time enough to jump off the ground just a bit. “Woah woah, Aaron, chill! I was just trying to tell you we’re almost to the tea house!” PBG assured me, and I awkwardly chuckled in response, scratching at my stubble. “O-okay, thanks!” I looked over at Kakusu, and she had an uncharacteristically excited look on her face. I knew that I was excited for the double date with PBG and Hana, but she looked absolutely pleased as punch-cards to be doing this.   
We stepped into the teahouse, and the atmosphere had changed on a dime. Outside, the hustle and bustle of the city couldn’t have been more omnipresent, but in here, it was as though we had stepped into a whole other world, with it’s own culture, steeped in silence, moving at a much calmer pace. I drew in a deep breath, and as I breathed out, I noticed that I wasn’t the only one relaxing: PBG and Hana had visibly let the tension out of their shoulders, and were holding hands almost casually, like their hands being intertwined was the default state, and being apart was just something that happened sometimes. I had heard bits and pieces of the story between Hana and PBG, and honestly, it couldn’t have been cuter if someone had written it into a story. I was happy they had found one another after all that time, against all the odds, and it was no secret they had jumped right back in where they had left off all those years ago.   
Before I knew it, we were all seated around a table in the corner, and, noting the looks of confusion from Hana and PBG upon being asked what sort of tea they wanted, I smiled, and piped up, picking what I thought would go well with the both of them. For PBG, a chocolate-mint herbal blend, perfect for his penchant for sweets, and for Hana, a unique blend called Earl Green (a personal favorite of mine). The floral notes of the bergamot would suit her quite nicely, and the underlying pure notes from the green tea couldn’t hurt. I looked toward Kakusu as if to ask her if she wanted anything, and the smoothness of her kind smile and shake of the head told me she had come across this scenario earlier. Finally, I paused for a moment, biting my lip in thought as I considered the large array of potential choices in tea, and settled on a blend I hadn’t known they had. Perhaps they had gotten it between visits, but I hadn’t seen the option for liquorice root tea before. I nodded decisively as I ordered, and much to my surprise, moments later, the server returned with a few trays, full of cups, perfectly portioned amounts of leaves, and small single cup brewing apparati. The kettle of hot water was delicately placed in the middle of the table on a heat-resistant pad I hadn’t noticed before, and the waitress doled out the tea to each of us with a practiced grace. “Huh, I didn’t know they let you watch the tea brew here! Neato!” I burbled happily, spooning the assorted roots into the bottom of the brewer. As I poured the water from the kettle onto the leaves, PBG and Hana followed my lead apprehensively. I smiled as PBG’s face screwed up in concentration as he poured, and cheerfully pointed out, “Now, we watch it brew! This is the best part, watching the leaves unfold to reach their purpose.” And so the leaves did, as we watched with serene gazes, all four of us quietly happy, the pure pleasantness of the moment washing over us while the color swirled into our teas, one by one around the table.


	7. Unfinished

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small, unfinished attempt at both writing in a different sort of style, and some serious angst. If someone wants to finish it, go right ahead! Just link me the results.

Kakusu let out a few particularly angry sounding beeps, and looked at me with a smile on her face. “I am glad that you have helped me experience love m--more fu-fu-fully, mi-mi-mi-nnnnnn” She trailed off, the final word dying on her lips with a whirr that suggested finality. I gasped in briefly, holding back a tidal wave of emotions as I- Wait, wait a moment, I’m getting ahead of myself again. Dreadfully sorry, just forgot that the story’s gotta be in some semblance of an order. Let me start over, from the beginning this time.   
So, some of you might know me from around Asagao, but for those of you who don’t, let me introduce myself. My name is Aaron Castle, and I’m a fourth year here. I’m in the boxing club, and I love computers. (Cue booing from folks who know how bad that joke is) Oh, NICE! That’s a good reason to get to where the story starts! So I’m sure all of you at asagao know Kakusu, or you’ve at least met her, right? Red hair, a pinch strange, well.. A robot? Well, I met her a few months ago, and after a few days of obsessive confusion, (a story for another time) I tripped and stumbled my way into dating her! I know, right? I was shocked too. Anyway, to get back to the story I started earlier, Kakusu and I decided to have a movie night the other day, but, since we both didn’t really want to go to the theater in Amaririsu, we decided to find a film online. I know, I know, not strictly the most legal thing in the world, but it was the best solution. Kakusu was really wanting to see some rom com (she loves them), but I managed to talk her into the next best thing: a movie based on a book that was popular last summer. I knew it probably wasn’t going to go well, given the book it was based on (Start User Two) was super reference heavy, and definitely required more CGI than the budget allowed, but it was the most romantic movie that I wanted to see that was still in theaters, so we both agreed to watch that! I was pleasantly surprised that Kakusu stopped me as I started to search, chirping happily, “Allow me, dear! I can run queries much faster than your computer will let you search, and in addition, I can download the film direct to my memory, to project the film itself for your viewing pleasure!” I blinked at this, spluttering out a reply, “Yo-you can project films? That’s so.. NEAT OH MY GOSH!”


	8. Graduation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so our journey with this Aaron draws to a close.

It had been a few months since I had graduated from Asagao, and I had gotten to the point where I was listless during the summer. Sure, the time away from all the requirements of school was nice, doubly so because I could focus on my assorted pet projects, but I had grown tired of waiting for responses. From where, might you ask? Jobs and colleges, of course! I was actively searching for the a summer job, and much to my parent’s chagrin, the search had stalled. Responses from colleges were what had me feeling impatient, and it was chafing me enough that even my gynoid beau had taken notice.   
“Aaron, are you not in an optimal state? Something seems to have divided your attention more than the usual scatter of your focus. I am a bit worried.” Kakusu said, her usual flat tone tinged with as much worry as her vocal processor would allow.  
I blinked, considering that for a moment as my mouth stuttered open and closed. “I.. well.. I guess I’m just out of sorts, min karlek.” I decided not to elaborate, squeezing my tongue between my left incisors thoughtfully, hoping that my extra out of sorts mood wouldn’t throw a wrench in the rare time I got to spend with Kakusu.. Because for some reason, my parents didn’t approve of her.  
It was Kakusu’s turn to blink, but despite her surprise, she responded quickly, setting a hand on my thigh. “What happens to trouble you, my love? Rest assured I will do whatever I can in order to aid you.”  
A tired smile came across my face at her words, and quickly morphed into a more surprised expression as I noticed her hand on my leg. Usually Kakusu wasn’t one for physical contact or affection, so even this was out of the ordinary. I quickly set a hand atop hers, partially to reassure her that this was, in fact, a good time for that helping hand, and partially for my own benefit: the more senses I directly involved in the moment, the more likely I was to remember it.. Well, at least, that’s what I had read. Hoping I hadn’t zoned out for too long, I ran my thumb against hers as I spoke. “I’m just stressed, K. Colleges aren’t replying to me, and I’m worried about that, and jobs aren’t replying to me and my parents are stressed about that, and I’m scared that I won’t be able to be anything but a student, and I haven’t been keeping up with hana and the rest of the boxing club very well and-”  
As panic crept into my voice and I started to prattle, Kakusu gripped my leg very gently to cut me off, with a great deal of focus on her part, and spoke, calmness pervasive in her tone. “Aaron, hush. Most of these things remain beyond your control, and as such, you should not let them trouble you so. Now, I know you you tend to speak more than average when you’re in a state like this, so I suggest you take a deep breath, and consider your words.”  
I heaved in a shaky breath, and gripped Kakusu’s hand until my grip quivered, trying to wrest my emotions back under control.. And failing. Tears rolled down my face unbidden, and I spoke choppily, doing my best to look her in the eyes through the blurry mess that had become my vision. “I-I-I’m j-just go-go-gonna miss them so mu-uh-uh-uch, a-a-and I sh-shouldn’t even b-be that f-f-far!” I blinked heavily, struggling to clear my vision as I continued less shakily, “A-and what about y-you and m-me, a-are we gonna be able to s-stay in touch?”   
If my worry for the wellbeing of my love wasn’t clear enough in my voice, my face sure got it across to Kakusu, and her other hand rose to gently wipe the tears from my eyes. “Aaron, my dear, I understand how you can get when it comes to talking. You need not worry about our future.. How would you put it?” She paused for a moment, then continued in a startling emulation of my voice, “The world-lines where we remain are many, as though we echo throughout the multiverse.”  
This startled me out of my emotional funk, and I sat straight up, my eyes clearing. “Kakusu, you can imitate voices? Hot dang, babe, you’ve always got some new tricks up your sleeve!” Before I managed to drift off into a nerd-musing fog about just how she picked something like that up, however, Kakusu shuffled, looking curiously at the sleeve of her Asagao uniform shirt.  
“I am unaware of any compartments, for secrets or otherwise, within the sleeves of my garments, though you’re quite welcome to inspect them if you are curious, dear.” Kakusu’s confusion was obvious in her tone, though moreso because of the flatness of her speech that came up when something challenged her social interaction parameters than anything resembling confusion in a human voice.  
A deep chuckle rang from my mouth, and though I stuttered a bit once more, thankfully this time it was from laughter. “N-no, K, that’s a fi-figure of speech! H-Hah-aving something in your sleeve means you have something, like a skill, someone didn’t know about, and you’re holding on to it for just the right time!” Out of respect for my dear, I stifled my chuckles, but the smile remained stuck on my face, and I had the feeling it wasn’t going to be leaving anytime soon. The fight club had been one of the highlights of my time at asagao, and I’d treasure the friends (or perhaps, dare I say it, family?) I had made there forever. Sure, I was never much of a heavy hitter, but the fights weren’t what mattered to me. If it wasn’t obvious, what mattered was the friends I made in that ring, and I knew that even though that part of our lives had drawn to a close, we’d all stay in touch as best we could, somehow.


End file.
